2048

How to play 2048

The board starts with two tiles. On each turn you push all tiles as far as they can go in one direction: up, down, left or right. If two tiles with the same value collide, they merge into a single tile showing their sum, and that sum is added to your score. After every move that changes the board, a new 2 (or occasionally a 4) appears in a random empty square.

A tile can only merge once per move. For example, sliding a row of 2 2 2 2 to the left gives 4 4 _ _, not a single 8. The game ends when the board is full and no neighbouring tiles match.

Controls

Strategy that works

• Pick a corner and stay there. Keep your largest tile in one corner, for example bottom-left. Most strong players only use three directions and avoid the fourth unless they have no choice.
• Build a chain. Line up tiles in falling order along the bottom row (512, 256, 128, 64). When the smallest one doubles, the whole chain can collapse into the corner.
• Keep the top row busy. Small tiles belong near the top, away from your chain, so they do not get stuck between big numbers.
• Count empty squares. If you have fewer than three free squares, stop chasing merges and make moves that open space.

About this version

The original 2048 was released as open-source software in 2014 and inspired countless variants. This version is our own implementation, written in plain JavaScript with a CSS grid board. It adds a 10-step undo so you can learn from mistakes, and it saves your best score in your browser only.